November! We are T-minus one month til moving day. I am busy busy busy with all the logistics, and also some design details that need to get taken care of before we're all moved in. For example, one or two of our rooms will need to have drapes ordered quickly. We also ordered a rug for our family room, because it will be going under all of our heaviest furniture pieces and so it will be nice to have that down before we move all the furniture in. This means I have been deciding color palettes for those rooms, and honing in on a general design direction. I'm finding the balance between taking things slowly and knowing most of these decisions aren't urgent, but also enjoying the creative outlet.
It has been a busy weekend with Halloween festivities. To have a slower moment, Jared and I are enjoying watching part of a movie together after the kids fall asleep while we work on packing/moving details in the background. This week we started The Hunger Games, thinking it might be a good Halloween-week watch. We're really enjoying it! I think we've only ever seen the movies in theaters, so it's been a while. They're really well done.
On Wednesday I enjoyed a wonderful girls lunch with my mother and grandmother, celebrating my Grandma Roper's 98th birthday. We had afternoon tea at The Taste in Provo. They bring a drink menu with options like sipping cocoa and specialty sodas. My grandmother and I ordered a mint cocoa (her) and an almond cocoa (me), and my mom get their delicious frozen hot chocolate. Next they bring out a big three-tiered tray filled with a variety of creative finger sandwiches (the classic cucumber sandwich was our favorite), homemade scones with fresh butter and jam, and an assortment of dessert pastries. We didn't make it to the third tier because we were so full. The food was excellent and the company was even better. I'm so grateful that we were able to move to Utah (a year ago this week!) so we can make more memories like these.
^^Roper girls at The Taste.
^^Jack and Alice helped me pack a couple of boxes in the play room. Alice did some doodling on the boxes and Jack labeled them--I love this one labeled "Rolo Coster" (Roller Coaster).
^^This week we learned that Gardner Village is a great outing to not do with young kids😅 We have Utah Get Out passes and were able to get into their petting zoo for free so we decided to meet Jared at his work and make an evening of it. The petting zoo was underwhelming...I'm shocked there's an entrance fee at all honestly. The Village part that was filled with shops and these enormous witches was cute. Keeping our kids wrangled was less cute. I do think it would be a fun date though.
^^My first school Halloween Parade for one of our kids! This felt like a big parenting milestone. Jack went dressed as a Knight of the round table. In hindsight he maybe could've used a knight helmet to complete the look, but this is the exact knight costume that Jared wore when he was little, and his mom made it for him. Very special. Alice would have loved watching this parade, but she was at preschool. Maybe next year.
^^Mine and Alice's Halloween morning outing to Thanksgiving Point. She always requests a photo booth moment on our way out.
^^Halloween and trick-or-treating at Tim's house.
^^I don't know why this picture is funny but it is. Our kids trying on all the costumes in the costume box and crashing out on candy. Classic stuff.
^^The only trick-or-treating photo we got. Alice went dressed as a ballerina. I wish we'd gotten a picture of Jack and Alice next to each other--a knight and a ballerina felt like a very classic, nostalgic costume pairing. Ballerina Alice and Bluey Aspen are a cute duo too. (One of my favorite moments from Halloween weekend was when Alice caught Aspen dipping her fingers in a bowl of sprinkles and scolded her: "Aspen Lark Lambert, you take your fingers out right now!")😂
^^It was fun for the kids to get to trick-or-treat with cousins! As we drove back to our house afterward we noticed that our neighborhood was absolutely hopping with Halloween action. Next year we'll probably trick-or-treat our own neighborhood to see what that's like, but Tim's is so fun too.
^^Exploring in the foothills behind our new house, and making teepees. Jack has dubbed this spot "second forest," because it's the second scrub oak forest on the trail behind our home. Dream come true. The feeling is reminiscent of when we lived across the street from open prairie in Wyoming, and we spent so much time playing and walking out there every day. Those prairie walks were the highlight of our residency years. I hope these kids drag me out to the foothills every single day. It truly is our dream come true.
